James Kirkpatrick, age 33 at the time of the 1860 census, was born in Ohio. Described as a merchant in 1860 with an estate valued at $13,500, he lived in Clayton, Illinois, with his wife Elizabeth, age 31, whom he married in 1848, and four children, William, age 11; Mary, age 9; Albert H., age 7; Warren (later John W.), age 2. He entered the war as a first lieutenant with Company C of the Third Missouri Cavalry and was promoted to Captain prior to Dec. 1863. The Official Army Register of the Volunteer Force of the United States for the Years 1861, 62, 63, 64, 65, lists him among "Casualties, Resigned" with the date 12 August 1864. The regiment was organized at Palmyra and St. Louis, Missouri from 15 October 1861 to 6 March 1862 and saw duty largely in southeast Missouri and Arkansas. Following the war, Kirkpatrick returned to Illinois and is identified in the 1870 census as a farmer and miller with an estate valued at over $17,000. In addition to his wife, Elizabeth, two more children are listed, John F., age 3, and Sallie, age 5. The 1880 census adds Emma, then age 9. By 1900, Elizabeth, age 70, is shown as head of a household that includes only two lodgers, though her status is "married" rather than "widowed."

William Kirkpatrick appears in the 1870 census, a member of his parents' household, with the occupation of farmer.